# Voiced postalveolar fricative

The voiced postalveolar or palato-alveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term voiced postalveolar fricative only for the sound, but it also describes the voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative [ɹ̠˔], for which there are significant perceptual differences, as one is a sibilant and one is not.

## Voiced palato-alveolar fricative

The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or voiced domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages.

### Transcription

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is the lower case form of the letter Ezh ⟨Ʒ ʒ⟩ (/ɛʒ/ ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is ⟨ž⟩, a z with a caron. In some transcriptions of alphabets such as the Cyrillic, the sound is represented by the digraph ⟨zh⟩.
Although present in English, the sound is not represented by a specific letter or digraph, but is formed by yod-coalescence of [z] and [j] in words such as measure. It also appears in some loanwords, mainly from French (thus written with ⟨g⟩ and ⟨j⟩).
The sound occurs in many languages and, as in English and French, may have simultaneous lip rounding ([ʒʷ]), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.

### Features

Features of the voiced palato-alveolar fricative:
* Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is generally produced by channeling air flow along a groove in the back of the tongue up to the place of articulation, at which point it is focused against the sharp edge of the nearly clenched teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.
* Its place of articulation is postalveolar, which means it is articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

### Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | жакӀэ/žač'a | | 'beard' | |
| Albanian | Albanian | zhurmë | [ʒuɾm] | 'noise' | |
| Arabic | Maghrebi | زوج/zūj | [zuːʒ] | 'husband' | |
| Arabic | Hejazi | جاهِز/jāhiz | [ʒaːhɪz] | 'ready' | an allophone of /d͡ʒ/ used by a number of speakers. |
| Armenian | Eastern | ժամ/žam | | 'hour' | |
| Assyrian | Assyrian | ܐܘܪܡܓ̰ܢܝܐ Urmižnaiya | [urmɪʒnaɪja] | 'Assyrian from Urmia' | |
| Avar | Avar | жакъа/žaq'a | [ˈʒaqʼːa] | 'today' | |
| Azerbaijani | Azerbaijani | jalüz | [ʒalyz] | 'blinds' | Only occurs in loanwords. |
| Berta | Berta | [ŋɔ̀nʒɔ̀ʔ] | [ŋɔ̀nʒɔ̀ʔ] | 'honey' | |
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian | мъжът/myžyt | [mɐˈʒɤ̞t̪] | 'the man' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Catalan | Eastern | gel | [ˈʒel] | 'ice' | Its pronunciation varies between an alveolo-palatal [ʑ] and postalveolar [ʒ] fricative. See Catalan phonology. |
| Chechen | Chechen | жий / žiy | [ʒiː] | 'sheep' | |
| Chinese | Quzhou dialect | 床 | [ʒɑ̃] | 'bed' | |
| Chinese | Fuzhou dialect | 只隻 | [tsi˥˥ ʒieʔ˨˦] | 'this one' | |
| Corsican | Corsican | ghjesgia | [ˈɟeːʒa] | 'church' | Also in Gallurese |
| Czech | Czech | muži | [ˈmuʒɪ] | 'men' | See Czech phonology |
| Dutch | Dutch | garage | [ɣäˈräːʒə] | 'garage' | Only occurs in loanwords. See Dutch phonology. |
| Emilian | Bolognese | chèṡ | [ˈkɛːð̠] | 'case' | Apical; not labialized; may be [z̺ʲ] or [ʐ] instead. |
| English | English | vision | | 'vision' | Only occurs in loanwords. See English phonology. |
| Esperanto | Esperanto | manĝaĵo | [mänˈd͡ʒäʒo̞] | 'food' | See Esperanto phonology |
| French | French | jour | | 'day' | See French phonology |
| German | Standard | Garage | [ɡaˈʁaːʒʷə] | 'garage' | Laminal or apico-laminal and strongly labialized. Some speakers may merge it with /ʃ/. Only occurs in loanwords. See Standard German phonology |
| Georgian | Georgian | ჟურნალი/žurnali | [ʒuɾnali] | 'magazine' | |
| Goemai | Goemai | zhiem | [ʒiem] | 'sickle' | |
| Greek | Cypriot | γαλάζ̌ο/galažo | [ɣ̞ɐˈlɐʒːo̞] | 'sky blue' | |
| Gwich’in | Gwich’in | zhòh | [ʒôh] | 'wolf' | |
| Hän | Hän | zhùr | [ʒûr] | 'wolf' | |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | ז׳אנר/žaner | [ʒaneʁ] | 'genre' | Phoneme present in loanwords only. See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | अझ़दहा/aždahá | [əʒd̪əhaː] | 'dragon' | Only occurs in loanwords. See Hindustani phonology |
| Hindustani | Urdu | اژدہا/aždahá | [əʒd̪əhaː] | 'dragon' | Only occurs in loanwords. See Hindustani phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | rózsa | [ˈr̪oːʒɒ] | 'rose' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Ingush | Ingush | жий/žiy | [ʒiː] | 'sheep' | |
| Italian | Tuscan | pigiare | [piˈʒäːre] | 'press' | See Italian phonology |
| Judaeo-Spanish | Judaeo-Spanish | mujer | [muˈʒɛr] | 'woman' | |
| Juǀʼhoan | Juǀʼhoan | ju | [ʒu] | 'person' | |
| Kabardian | Kabardian | жыг/žëğ | [ʒəɣʲ] | 'tree' | |
| Kabyle | Kabyle | jeddi | [ʒəddi] | 'my grandfather' | |
| Kashubian | Kashubian | kòżdi rôz | [kʷʒdi rɞz] | 'constantly' | |
| Kazakh | Kazakh | жеті/jeti | [ʒeti] | 'seven' | |
| Latvian | Latvian | žāvēt | [ˈʒäːveːt̪] | 'to dry' | See Latvian phonology |
| Ligurian | Ligurian | lüxe | ['ly:ʒe] | 'light' | |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian | zjuweleer | [ʒy̠β̞əˈleːʀ̝̊] | 'jeweller' | Laminal post-alveolar with an unclear amount of palatalization. |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian | žmona | [ʒmoːˈn̪ɐ] | 'wife' | See Lithuanian phonology |
| Livonian | Livonian | kūž | [kuːʒ] | 'six' | |
| Lombard | Western | resgiôra | [reˈʒu(ː)ra] | 'matriarch' | |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | жaбa/žaba | [ˈʒaba] | 'toad' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Megrelian | Megrelian | ჟირი/žiri | [ʒiɾi] | 'two' | |
| Navajo | Navajo | łizh | [ɬiʒ] | 'urine' | |
| Neapolitan | Neapolitan | sbattere | [ˈʒbɑttərə] | 'to slam' | |
| Ngas | Ngas | zhaam | [ʒaːm] | 'chin' | |
| Ngwe | Mmockngie dialect | [ʒíá] | [ʒíá] | 'to split' | |
| Occitan | Auvergnat | argent | [aʀʒẽ] | 'money' | Southern dialects |
| Occitan | Gascon | argent | [arʒen] | 'money' | |
| Pashto | Pashto | ژوول/žowul | [ʒowul] | 'chew' | |
| Persian | Persian | مژه/može | [moʒe] | 'eyelash' | See Persian phonology |
| Polish | Gmina Istebna | zielony | [ʒɛˈlɔn̪ɘ] | 'green' | /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ merge into [ʒ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /ʒ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiced retroflex sibilant. |
| Polish | Lubawa dialect | zielony | [ʒɛˈlɔn̪ɘ] | 'green' | /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ merge into [ʒ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /ʒ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiced retroflex sibilant. |
| Polish | Malbork dialect | zielony | [ʒɛˈlɔn̪ɘ] | 'green' | /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ merge into [ʒ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /ʒ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiced retroflex sibilant. |
| Polish | Ostróda dialect | zielony | [ʒɛˈlɔn̪ɘ] | 'green' | /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ merge into [ʒ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /ʒ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiced retroflex sibilant. |
| Polish | Warmia dialect | zielony | [ʒɛˈlɔn̪ɘ] | 'green' | /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ merge into [ʒ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /ʒ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiced retroflex sibilant. |
| Portuguese | Portuguese | loja | [ˈlɔʒɐ] | 'shop' | Also described as alveolo-palatal [ʑ]. See Portuguese phonology |
| Romani | Romani | [ʒanel] | [ʒanel] | 'to know' | |
| Romanian | Romanian | jar | [ʒär] | 'embers' | See Romanian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Barra | uair | [uəʒ] | 'hour' | Dialectal allophone of /ɾʲ/, now primarily heard among older speakers in the south of the island and Vatersay. |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | жут / žut | [ʒûːt̪] | 'yellow' | May be laminal retroflex instead, depending on the dialect. See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Silesian | Gmina Istebna | | | | These dialects merge /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ into [ʒ]. |
| Silesian | Jablunkov | | | | These dialects merge /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ into [ʒ]. |
| Sioux | Lakota | waŋži | [wãˈʒi] | 'one' | |
| Slovak | Slovak | žena | [ʒena] | 'woman' | See Slovak phonology |
| Slovene | Slovene | žito | [ˈʒìːt̪ɔ́] | 'cereal' | See Slovene phonology |
| Spanish | Rioplatense | yo | [ʒo̞] | 'I' | Most dialects. See Spanish phonology and yeísmo |
| Spanish | Ecuadorian Andean Spanish | ellos | [eʒos] | 'they' | See Spanish phonology and yeísmo |
| Tadaksahak | Tadaksahak | [ˈʒɐwɐb] | [ˈʒɐwɐb] | 'to answer' | |
| Tagish | Tagish | [ʒé] | [ʒé] | 'what' | |
| Turkish | Turkish | jale | [ʒɑːˈʎ̟ɛ] | 'dew' | Only occurs in loanwords. See Turkish phonology |
| Turkmen | Turkmen | žiraf | [ʒiraf] | 'giraffe' | Only occurs in loanwords. |
| Tutchone | Northern | zhi | [ʒi] | 'what' | |
| Tutchone | Southern | zhǜr | [ʒɨ̂r] | 'berry' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | жaбa/žaba | [ˈʒɑbɐ] | 'frog' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Veps | Veps | vīž | [viːʒ] | 'five' | |
| Welayta | Welayta | [aʒa] | [aʒa] | 'bush' | |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | bagaazje | [bɑˈɡaʒə] | 'luggage' | See West Frisian phonology |
| Yiddish | Yiddish | אָראַנזש/oranž | [ɔʀanʒ] | 'orange' | See Yiddish phonology |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | llan | [ʒaŋ] | 'anger' | |
The sound in Russian denoted by ⟨ж⟩ is commonly transcribed as a palato-alveolar fricative but is actually a laminal retroflex fricative.

## Voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative

The voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative is a consonantal sound. As the International Phonetic Alphabet does not have separate symbols for the post-alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that are not palatalized), this sound is usually transcribed ⟨ɹ̠˔⟩ (retracted constricted [ɹ]). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\_-_r.

### Features

* Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence. However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
* Its place of articulation is postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

### Occurrence

| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Dutch | meer | [meːɹ̠˔] | 'lake' | A rare post-vocalic allophone of /r/. Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology |
| Manx | mooar | [muːɹ̠˔] | 'lake' | Pre-consonantal and word-final realization of /r/, in free variation with other allophones. |